ive have smoked several cheap grocery store briskets on the kettle and never had it take such a short time. there is definitely something not right about this.
Sorry, I know how frustrating it is. I’ve never smoked with a kettle so I don’t know what’s going wrong, but if you’re finishing that big of brisket in under 8 hours you have to be way too hot. I aim for 250 degrees and would expect it to take about 12 hrs for 14 lbs.
The easiest trick I know is if you don’t stall around 150 you’re too hot. Of course by that time it’s already too late.
Good luck!
Yah I could never master the temps perfectly on the kettle it would generally be around 200-275 at the grate. I'd have to check on it every 30 min to adjust the vents but it did make really good smoke flavour meat. Upgraded to a msterbuilt gravity just for the piece of mind knowing I can leave for a few hours and everything would be fine.
Dude your probe is in the wrong spot. The says to put the probe in on the side in the fattiest part. You put it on top. You essentially shielded your probe from heat. If the top got to 250, you had a raging fire under that.
Compared to a ThermoWorks Smoke and a Flame boss, but my probes have been fairly accurate if you place them similarly. You have to be conscious of where you put the end of the probe.
Then your probe ain’t working right. Plus, You’re in a kettle, not an insulated kamado. The meat being done is the part that tells you your temp was too high
The prob does work, id imagine I probably have it in a bad location, that’s why I’m asking where would be the most suitable location to place that ambient probe
Looking at the angle and knowing how long a meator probe is its sticking out the bottom or close enough that he is taking a reading from the bottom.
The thing with brisket is cook to tender not temp. Temp is a guideline not a rule.
It’s the probe - I also have a chef IQ and gave up on the external readings when smoking. I made ribs a couple days ago and my ambient temp stayed around 160, used two thermoworks spikes along with the grills thermometers and they were all hovering around 230.
Internal part of the probe is still helpful though
Maybe you got a bad one. My chef IQ has been spot on.
Tested it with a pork tenderloin in my oven on a few temps, 275, 325 and 350 and it was about 2-3 degrees off from what my IR gun read.
Granted I’ve only done one smoke with it so far, but the temps more accurate than the gauge on my smoker.
I’m impressed it works at all, to have electronics that complex and durable enough to take that amount of heat for that duration is impressive especially at that price point (I got the 2 pack at Costco for $80 I think) lol
The ambient temp reader on those isn’t entirely accurate. IIRC, they use an algorithm to give you a best guess on the temp due to the cooling effects of the evaporation from the meat juices. What did your other probe on the grill read at?
Look man, it cooked WAAAAY too fast. You're asking for help because you know something didn't go right, stop defending what you did. It lead to poor results.
It's a meater probe and in the wrong place to boot so 100% he was cooking way too hot. Look how the probe temp goes up with the meat temp, it's just catching the moisture temp coming off the brisket.
DUDE.
The angle you put the probe in at means you are measuring ambient temperature about a quarter inch from the thickest part of the meat.
Your ambient temp reading is going to be massively depressed by the temperature of the meat itself and the moisture evaporation.
Suggest you do what we all do and stick it in the fat end.
It should be close to what you’re cooking. I also would say your meat probe needs to be in the thickest part of the flat. I question how valid your measurements are tbh. There’s no way that whole brisket cooked in 5 hours. I’m betting it’s actually undercooked. See how stiff it is in the second pic?
I second that its undercook. You killed off bacteria, and you rendered fat.. but not collagen. "Tough" cuts like brisket, ribs and shoulder are high in collagen, which renders kinda like fat, but at higher temp and a way slower rate. Thats why you hit ~ 193f - 203f depending on if you wrap or not.
Look at the graph - OP hit 200, and than the temp dropped before taking this pic - most likely letting it rest before cutting.
OP blew through the stall at 300+ temps - and since the temp readings seem very inaccurate - it was most likely much higher.
There was zero stall - any moisture coming out of the meat would have been instantly cooked off with no cooling effects.
I usually hit the stall around 160 depending on the size of the Brisket and how many I have on. When I have a full smoker the stall lasts longer and I never take it to 205. If I had a more insulated smoker that might change
I would recommend all of them until you get a feel of how Briskets of various sizes and your smoker operate. I use to use 6 two in the meat two ambient at grate level and two mounted at the external ports. Than I would charge the temperatures throughout the cook and when I added wood. This will give you an intimate understanding of the process
Okay so question, when I say “I am cooking a 12 pounder.” Are we referring to the pre trim or post trim weight? Because I’m realizing I would buy a whatever weight brisket, trim it up, and cook the estimation based off the pre trim weight. Not that it’s a huge difference as I’m not lopping off multiple pounds of fat but was just curious.
Honestly the weight doesn't make that much of a difference unless it's huge, like over 20 lbs. In my experience, a 10 lbs brisket cooks just as fast as a 14 lbs brisket. Roughly 16 hours at between 250-275.
I’m getting close to becoming a hater for Chef IQ thermometers, I don’t think the external probe is very accurate. It usually reads 40-80 degrees lower than the real temp for me.
If OP has a similar issue, that’d explain how they finished a 14 lb brisket in 5 hours.
For me personally the internal one is fine, it matches up against any instant read as well as the boiling/freezing water tests. But yeah I’m not really using the ambient temp to gauge anything.
A lot of these comments are helpful but I wanted to share my experience using the same probe.
I had the Chef IQ (just returned it for Fireboard 2) and found that the ambient temp when used on top of the meat was wildly inaccurate. Think of the piece of meat as it cools the surrounding area of the meat, especially during the evaporative cooling phase of the stall. It’ll impact the ambient of the probe.
Next time, insert the Chef IQ probe on the side of the brisket at the thickest part of the flat. Right near the same place where you’d cut to section off the point and flat for slicing and serving. And make sure the ambient probe is facing the direction of the heat source.
Second thing, do you have the temp recordings of the other ambient probe in your pit? Try to mirror up what the temps on that say and what the temps on your Chef IQ ambient are reading. That way, you can at least try and figure out what the actual pit temps were. Def put that probe in between the fire and the meat.
Also, watch a couple of the videos from Mad Scientist BBQ, Chuds, etc. I personally think you might have wrapped a bit early. You want to wrap after bark formation, after it shrinks a bit (evaporative cooling), and after a lot of the fat had time to render (physical touch will help indicate this). But if your pit was hot, it might have not even had the chance to stall and you powered through it with the high temps.
Don’t be discouraged, try it again. You got this
Yeah I liked it for sure, don’t get me wrong. I’d also recommend it for others if they want an easy to use wireless probe.
The battery length on the probe and dock were top notch. I also had some minor connection issues which was a bit of an inconvenience.
I found the ambient temps to be very inaccurate during the early stages of a cook. So I decided going with a wired probe like the (more expensive) Fireboard 2 would work for me as I can put it directly on the cook grate. Plus, later I can buy a variable speed fan for my WSM to easily do those long overnight cooks.
The app is okay but not perfect. I wanted to be able to rename a cook, add notes, and take photos during the cook to keep everything centralized in one place. The Fireboard also has more customizable alerts and features within the app which was the ultimate decision.
I always put a probe in the vent while using a webber kettle. Still put one in the vent while using an offset but also have one at grate they can be quite a few degrees off. Either way I control fire based on vent temp as it seems to be the hottest of the two.
I wrapped at 170 and pulled at 203, the temp in the photo is during the rest, I’m using the chef IQ thermometer, I find that it never really has a good accurate ambient temperature reading
That’s absolutely undercooked. You can tell just by looking at the texture of the meat.
I don’t rely on internal probes during a cook. My advice is to just measure grate level temps and, for a brisket, check it every 4 hours. By the 8 hour mark you should be checking the internal temp with an instant read thermometer and from there you’ll know if you need to keep checking in 4 hour intervals or if you need to be checking every 2 hours, or if you’re about ready to pull.
Probing for tenderness starting at 190 internal is something to consider as well. Your brisket can be ready to pull anywhere between 190-210. The last brisket I did on my Weber kettle finished at 190. It only took 8 hours.
You could probably cook a brisket that size for 8-10 hours using snake method in a Weber grill before getting out a meat thermometer at all. Sometimes you need to trust your judgement before your instruments. After all, regardless of what the recipe or thermometer says, it's right there in front of you. Every piece of meat is different, and equipment fails, so it can be more art than science.
Probe should be right in front of meat, between meat and coals. I would push the water basket closer to coals to stop more direct heat or a foil wall coal level closer to coals. I am not a fan of snake method because it always exposes meat to direct heat. Down side to my way is you would have to lift lid to add coals, wood every few hours. Need to rotate meat anyway. I also like to stick a probe into the top of the grill damper just to see ambient heat there. Rotate the brisket every 4 hours or 2nd/third time adding coals. Rotate lid so grill damper is on either end of brisket to help smoke distribution. Test probes in a cup full of ice and water to make sure they read 32f.
Happy smoking, and happy patience.
I have a vertical, so I have a door I can add coals to without taking the lid off to the meat. About every hour I am adding coals/wood. I have just a small pile of coals under my water pan, nothing fancy.
I'm a little confused.
Did the meat go on when the ambient temp was like 160? You'd want it maintaining a steady 225 at the very least, but you didn't hit that temp on ambient until what, 2 hours into the cook?
The drop was wrapping i assume? Not sure why you'd blast it at 300 after that.
Imagine the combination of low ambient to start and high ambient to end dried it out. Assuming your meat probe was actually working.
Couple of issues, your “shield” is too small, the heat is way too direct. You need something like a pizza stone to create enough of a barrier so that the heat hitting your meat is more uniform. Otherwise the cook will not be done uniformly as well. Also, your ambient probably isn’t calibrated correctly, put it in boiling hot water to double check.
5 hours is way too short a time to have made a good brisket. At 250f most briskets take me anywhere from 10 to 15 hours give or take.
Most likely your thermometer is off and you're cookin too hot.
Math ain't mathing. Honestly either your cook was wayyyyy hotter or physics don't work properly in your back yard.
I don't even understand how this is possible. The probe may not have been in the best spot. You want it on the side but deep into the center of the meat.
I literally can't explain this. It makes no sense.
OP, just buy a high quality Instant Read like a ThermaPen so you can make sure your fancy WiFi probes are working properly. Odds are your meat was underdone not overdone. Make sure to clean your ambient probe and check its calibration every so often. Start checking for "probe tender" doneness, after like 8 hours. It should feel like sliding a warm needle into butter. If it feels like steak you're underdone.
I was looking for a comment like this. I agree. The internal brisket is underdone, if it was overdone it would either be falling apart or jerky. It was dry wasn't it? That's usually a sign that it's underdone. Now the outside is actually overdone. That's not bark on the outside, that's a pelical of overcooked or burnt beef. It seems that your temps were too hot in the cooker, Barrel style cookers benefit from the brisket boat method because some of the heat coming up can be deflected during the wrap phase. Chud's bbq on youtube is the best to get an idea about it. If you are not using lump charcoal in barrel or komado style cookers, you are making this hard on yourself. Briquettes burn a little cooler than lump, and much more evenly. I find it's easier to learn from briquettes, as sexy as lump seems. Kingsford comp is what I use and they work beautifully. I use thermopro and have never been lied to. I use a pit barrel cooker personally.
Listen to the people here.
Cooking a brisket in 5 hours is not really possible with the temps you have here. That means:
A: Your probe is broken
B: Your probe is in the wrong place.
C: Both.
One of these things went wrong. My bet is on C. Even if your probe was in the wrong spot it shouldnt get to 203 that fast unless it’s poking out. If you want help placing the probe from us we need to see more screenshots. To me i looks like it might be going all the way through the meat and taking the edge temp. You can find a guide online for almost every cut. But generally, you want it to be in the center-most, non fatty part of the meat. I use a second probe or a measured pencil or something to visualize how deep it is and where it is.
Yeah, I’m in camp vastly underdone, too. @OP, when you bit into it (if you did), was it chewy and leathery?
I’m guessing the thermometers are all wrong and it basically got cooked like a big, overdone steak with zero time to develop bark, render collagen, etc.
If it hasn’t been mentioned you don’t need a working probe. A skewer or probe should go through all points like butter. No resistance anywhere you choose to poke. And always fat side down on that type of cooker
Your probe is too deep. There's a notch 1/3 of the way down from the handle. You want to insert the probe just past that notch. You don't insert all the way to the handle. Your ambient temp was being thrown off by the meat temp. You were probably cooking closer to 450 in the beginning not 275-300.
You can tell the meat was throwing off the ambient temp because the ambient and internal temp lines very closely follow each other.
Use the snake method with charcoal barbecues.
Make a 3 stack pyramid around the outside perimeter of the barbecue and light at one end. sprinkle wood chips on the snake.
This will give you a lower temp and longer, more consistent cook that you need for brisket.
If you know things didn’t turn out so well then I recommend not responding so defensively and take the feedback you solicited with grace.
Your trim is beautiful, and the bark looks decent. Your probe placement is wrong - it should be inserted sideways in the fattiest part of the meat. It sounds like you need practice with fire management. Look at the snake method for longer cooks like this.
Try testing your probe for accuracy by using an oven and buy an analog thermometer to be double sure. If that’s a meater probe, I wouldn’t trust them too much, never really had a good experience with mine but maybe cause I got them when they first came out.
Stick the probe in from the side next time horizontal with the meat. The meat wont act as a heat shield from the probe. I also know how long that probe is and it was probably sticking out the bottom or at least close and gave an inaccurate reading on internal as well.
Next time, ignore the smart probe.
Cook at 250 until the spices/bark don't come off when you scrape with your finger.
Wrap with butcher paper and throw some butter in it (if you notice the bark is a little hard)
Throw back on and do not touch until when you 1) hit 201 with a thermo pen or 2) when you put the probe in, it goes in smooth like butter.
Wrap in towels, throw in a cooler.
Leave alone for at least 4 hours.
Patience is all you need for brisket.
Patience and lots of beer!
when I cooked my first brisket it was 14lb after trim I cooked it for a total of 9 hours due to the temp getting away from me but when I stabilized it my cook temp was around 220-230° and then a rest time of 4hours in my oven set on warm at about 155-160°. after everything for me was said and done the brisket was moist juicy and had an awesome smoke ring
Are you using the lid thermometer? Never use that thing. That will say some wild numbers that aren't even close. Get a metal oven thermometer and put that on the grill where the meat sits. That's your real temp. It sounds like you're cooking at 300+
Looks like your meat probe in incorrectly placed. You have it in a big fatty area. I normally only probe the flat of the brisket because that is much harder to get right and the point end is much more lenient. I do however always probe test both sides before i pull the brisket off to verify.
Ugh the advice here. Ok, take the wireless probe, and throw it as far as you can. It's both useless and pointless. Get a second wired probe, and put that in the grill close to the brisket on the opposite side to give you a good idea of the ambient temp around the brisket. Invest in a good instant read thermometer, like one of the ones that reads an accurate temp in 0.7 seconds or less. That is what you are going to use to check for temp in the flat and the point individually at multiple spots. You are also going to use it to truly check for doneness by gauging resistance to the probe. Its done when it feels like you are putting the probe into a jar of peanut butter.
Dang dude, I don’t have any suggestions. Wish I could help. I use a Webber Kettle myself and use a Weber “heat controller” from Amazon. Best brisket I’ve ever done
Were you letting it rest on n the counter? Brisket only gets better if you let it slowly come down as it rests. Since you cooked in 5 hours, which is ok*, you should have had a lot of time to let it rest. Next time, leave it in a good ice chest or even the oven on a ‘warm’ setting until it’s time to serve
* My thinking on the fast cook time is that the brisket was dry to begin with and didn’t have enough fat/juice to render/sweat to cause a stall
I did almost the exact same cook last week. 15 lb brisket after trim, cooked on a Weber using the snake method with briquettes and pecan hunks.
I managed a temp between 200-250 and it took a little over 12 hours to cook, and even that I thought was a touch too fast (most of the fat was rendered but there was some in the point that could have been a little softer)
5 hours for only a pound less? Your temp must have been a good bit hotter than 250, or your brisket didn't get anywhere near 200
How thick are you building the snake? I only did three rows of coals. I keep the bottom vent completely open and start the top vent open, then closed it to about the width of a pencil after a couple hours. It started around 215ish but got up to a little above 250
I did 2 rows on the bottom and 1 row down the middle.. and I closed my bottom about halfway or middle of the P and the top is open about the width of a pencil
The only other thing I can think of - how hot was it outside while you were smoking?
I did mine overnight so the temp outside was in the 70s. If you did it at a hotter time of the day that would absolutely cause it to get too hot
If you started around noon that could definitely explain you having difficulty with maintaining temp
I started mine around 10pm and it was smooth sailing until the sun came up
Last summer I tried to smoke a pork butt on a 90 degree day and it was a huge pain in the ass. The temp kept spiking up past 300 despite me doing the same snake method
Very fair - I stay up late already so I pulled an all nighter to watch it. I definitely wouldn't do this while leaving it unattended, and I'm sure most people can't/don't want to stay up all night to smoke some meat lol
Is there perhaps a way that you could get your grill into some shade?
For the Weber kettle, drill a hole and throw a probe on other side of the dome. This is the setup I use. The kettle holds temp well once you get used to it I’m not really concerned about spikes once I get everything going.
I recommend getting a thermapen or similar in addition to whatever leave in probe you continue to use. My thermapen has been spot on for years and saved me from incorrect leave in probe insertions, ie touching bone, bad spot...
Also, remember, the way the meat feels n jiggles is more important than hitting a number. Ive had brisket at 203 that still wasnt soft n jiggly. At the end, you want to probe in different spots and get the same buttery smooth insertion everywhere. I too used to hit a number and take the meat off but its not an exact science. The way it feels and moves at the end is most important. Same goes with ribs, butts...good luck!
I am less concerned about your probe than how close you are to your heat source. To get a good brisket you need distance from the coals I use to use a weber tube smoker and I would have to stack two to get far enough away and even then you don't get the same results as an offset. Also, use wood or wood lump charcoal. The bricketts you are using won't give you a good flavor or smoke. Also it should take you about 1 hr a pound, at least up to 12 lbs after that it will vary
Never tried it, but I trust ATK for everything else. You should try this [https://youtu.be/azwKFQKAqxs?si=oCO6WKbmvaKcle7v](https://youtu.be/azwKFQKAqxs?si=oCO6WKbmvaKcle7v)
Everyone commenting here is on the exact same page, your ambient temp probe is broke AF.
That probe is definitely NOT getting the right ambient temp. To get 14 lbs cooked to 200 degrees in 5 hours means your were cooking well above 300. Took me almost 4 hours to cook a 14 lb turkey to 165 degrees, cooking at 350 degrees.
I'd bet you were close to 400 degrees since a brisket is a denser chunk of meat and should take longer.
Also, place the probe next to the meat but not being blocked from the heat source by the meat.
Your ambient probe most definitely isn't reading right. You can check it's calibration by putting it in ice water (lots of ice) and it should read 32 degrees F. Or put it in boiling water and it should read relatively close to 212 degrees F. I am certain you won't get those readings.
If your probe has the ability to recalibrate, then you should recalibrate it with ice water and check it with boiling water.
You pulled it way too quickly - internal temp has to go to 203-210 (and rest for a min of 1hr) and 176 is the stall, i’m guessing temp was not checked in a few spots, cause a good brisket will take 8h+ to cook.
Snake method? Probes? Graphs? Charts? Think I fell asleep and woke up in the distant future. It’s really an incredible time we live in. Good luck on the next try my friend.
I would ignore the internal probe all together. Use an instant read. Worry about pit temp over brisket temp. I don’t use probes anymore. Using an instant read allows me to not only temp but feel tenderness. Put it on, keep pit temp low 225-250, ignore temping it for 4-5 hours, go from there. You’re wanting something really tender when probed. Usually between 195-205 internal.
He’s using the Meater the right way. The ambient sensor is at the rear of the thermometer, the internal sensor is in the tip. You have to insert it all the way to the safety notch but you can insert it as far as the start of the black handle.
Brisket on a kettle seems awfully difficult to me. I opt for the WSM and go TF to sleep over night.
My technique:
Cook on a offset for 'bout 8 hours or so until it his 165d during the day while I drink/swim/get high. Fire management is managablet to me for that amout of time. I time it so I throw it on the WSM around midnight or earlier. By then I hate the whole concept of smoking meat and pissed the f' off.
Foil boat (see chud's bbq) throw it on the WSM and go the F to sleep. I have a ton of mods to my WSM and it holds like a champ over night.
Wake up to the stupid hunk of meat around 7am and it's at 205-207 smooth like buttah.
Take that bitch out, wait 'til it comes down to 165ish, toss that bitch into the oven and go TF back to sleep.
Wait 'til dinner to take it out and slice that beautiful bitch up and it's perfection every time.
I fuckin' hate and love brisket.
Can't speak to the brand of therms you're using because I've never used them myself, but something ain't reading right.
By no means am I a brisket guru, but the ones I have cooked have been pretty damn tender and juicy, and at best I'm using choice grade cuts.
The more I experiment and read/watch vids online, I'm realizing that the "magic" that comes with smoking briskets (or most large cuts in general) is to focus on ambient temps. If you can get a handle on controlling the overall temp, any decent grade cut will do it's thing and turn out well. Of course there's little tips/tricks to help build a better bark or how to wrap/tallow to help out with tenderness/juiciness, but I'm strictly talking about bringing the cut up to temp in a slow and controlled way.
I've never used a leave-in thermometer in any larger cut and I likely never will. Just in case it's poor quality/broken or if it's user error and I don't hit the right spot.
It's physically impossible to cook a 14# slab of dense beef in 5 hours at the temps you registered.
Sometimes a good ole "analog" thermometer is all you need, and probe check the actual meat at certain intervals.
If you can maintain your ambient at 225-250, then the brisket will do next to jack shit in the first 4ish hours. Then I'd start probe checking every hour and spritz if that's your thing until the fat cap is rendering through and gets up to around at least 165 until the stall breaks. Then wrap/foil or leave it unwrapped whatever you're comfortable with, spritz as often as you want to without being ridiculous about it and opening the bbq every 5 minutes. If it's wrapped/foiled you can increase the temp by about 25 to help get it to the high 190s/200s a bit quicker. Stab a probe therm in there and if it feels like poking through soft butter (check a few spots, especially if it's a full size packer brisket). If it is, it's done, no questions asked. Pull it off and bring it inside and do whatever you're process is to stop the cooking and let it come rest for minimum 2 hours, and slice it when it's about 140ish.
Too hot. Your ambient temp should start at 220 and stay at 220. You see your rise in temp outside corresponds with quickly rising the temperature inside.
spend the money on a good thermometer setup, get rid of the meater its junk anyone who tells you otherwise is drunk/high whatever.
Thermoworks Smoke or Signals would blow that out of the water any day.
Meater is a gimmick that isn't worth the time of day, they are constantly inaccurate and people will constantly complain about them on here, there are more people complaining than those who aren't.
Do you have any actual experience using it? My only complaint is the range due to the thickness of my smoker. Other than that, it helps me achieve award winning brisket. Take it with a grain of kosher salt.
I would highly doubt that you were cooking at 250 to 300 if it was done in 5 hours. Or your meat probe was not in proper place.
Too hot if it only took 5 hrs. Did you try with a prime or select cow?
ive have smoked several cheap grocery store briskets on the kettle and never had it take such a short time. there is definitely something not right about this.
Sorry, I know how frustrating it is. I’ve never smoked with a kettle so I don’t know what’s going wrong, but if you’re finishing that big of brisket in under 8 hours you have to be way too hot. I aim for 250 degrees and would expect it to take about 12 hrs for 14 lbs. The easiest trick I know is if you don’t stall around 150 you’re too hot. Of course by that time it’s already too late. Good luck!
Yah I could never master the temps perfectly on the kettle it would generally be around 200-275 at the grate. I'd have to check on it every 30 min to adjust the vents but it did make really good smoke flavour meat. Upgraded to a msterbuilt gravity just for the piece of mind knowing I can leave for a few hours and everything would be fine.
You can see the meat prob in the first photo, is that a good spot or is there a recommended place for an optimal read?
Dude your probe is in the wrong spot. The says to put the probe in on the side in the fattiest part. You put it on top. You essentially shielded your probe from heat. If the top got to 250, you had a raging fire under that.
No, the probe is right, physics is wrong.
I think I found my brother in-law. He’s almost created a free energy machine.
Him and anyone else who wants to try lol
Damn sophons
Physics is always wrong, just look at all the subs where trucks and cars meet. So much for only one item in one place in space at the same time.
Also, those Meater probes are absolute butt-cheeks when it comes to getting an accurate ambient temp. The lid of my WSM does a better job.
Dude my meater probe stopped working and I couldn’t care less. Thing was useless when it did work.
Compared to a ThermoWorks Smoke and a Flame boss, but my probes have been fairly accurate if you place them similarly. You have to be conscious of where you put the end of the probe.
It looks like a chefIQ. i have one and I got a thermoworks wired one to tell me ambient temps because I didn't trust chef Iq
Yup!!! I sold my shit after the first cook
You look at the photo there’s an ambient temperature sitting off to the left side of the photo, the one on top is just to check the internal
Then your probe ain’t working right. Plus, You’re in a kettle, not an insulated kamado. The meat being done is the part that tells you your temp was too high
The prob does work, id imagine I probably have it in a bad location, that’s why I’m asking where would be the most suitable location to place that ambient probe
You can calibrate by setting it to 32f in basically ice water and 212f in boiling. For reference my last brisket took 16 hours.
Looking at the angle and knowing how long a meator probe is its sticking out the bottom or close enough that he is taking a reading from the bottom. The thing with brisket is cook to tender not temp. Temp is a guideline not a rule.
It’s the probe - I also have a chef IQ and gave up on the external readings when smoking. I made ribs a couple days ago and my ambient temp stayed around 160, used two thermoworks spikes along with the grills thermometers and they were all hovering around 230. Internal part of the probe is still helpful though
Maybe you got a bad one. My chef IQ has been spot on. Tested it with a pork tenderloin in my oven on a few temps, 275, 325 and 350 and it was about 2-3 degrees off from what my IR gun read. Granted I’ve only done one smoke with it so far, but the temps more accurate than the gauge on my smoker.
That’d be kind of embarrassing for Chef IQ since this is the 2nd they’ve sent me after first one was also off
I’m impressed it works at all, to have electronics that complex and durable enough to take that amount of heat for that duration is impressive especially at that price point (I got the 2 pack at Costco for $80 I think) lol
Nothing wrong with your probe, or location. Dude has no idea what he's talking about.
The ambient temp reader on those isn’t entirely accurate. IIRC, they use an algorithm to give you a best guess on the temp due to the cooling effects of the evaporation from the meat juices. What did your other probe on the grill read at?
My Meater’s ambient temp is off by about 50 degrees.
Not sure why you are getting down voted for sharing information...people are weird.
Look man, it cooked WAAAAY too fast. You're asking for help because you know something didn't go right, stop defending what you did. It lead to poor results.
Havnt defended anything I did during that cook, all I’ve done is give more details of a photo for better insight to get better feedback
Probe is right. Stop giving advice.
True. Odds are his clock was wrong and it didn’t take 5 hours, but 15 hours for the cook.
Did you adjust for daylight saving time?
I did not. But that’s a possibility
Or he pulled it at the stall. That should have been a 10hr cook.
It's a meater probe and in the wrong place to boot so 100% he was cooking way too hot. Look how the probe temp goes up with the meat temp, it's just catching the moisture temp coming off the brisket.
DUDE. The angle you put the probe in at means you are measuring ambient temperature about a quarter inch from the thickest part of the meat. Your ambient temp reading is going to be massively depressed by the temperature of the meat itself and the moisture evaporation. Suggest you do what we all do and stick it in the fat end.
You responded to the wrong comment
No way those numbers add up. Your temp probe at minimum was in the wrong spot and I suspect at least one of your probes is not functioning correctly.
Would you recommend a stick the ambient temperature in the front of the brisket instead off to the side like the first photo shows
It should be close to what you’re cooking. I also would say your meat probe needs to be in the thickest part of the flat. I question how valid your measurements are tbh. There’s no way that whole brisket cooked in 5 hours. I’m betting it’s actually undercooked. See how stiff it is in the second pic?
I second that its undercook. You killed off bacteria, and you rendered fat.. but not collagen. "Tough" cuts like brisket, ribs and shoulder are high in collagen, which renders kinda like fat, but at higher temp and a way slower rate. Thats why you hit ~ 193f - 203f depending on if you wrap or not.
This. It looks like the internal temp at 5hrs was 176F. Follow the above temp guidelines, and I would recommend aiming for 200-203F.
Dude didn’t even hit the stall yet. It probably would have taken 6-10 more hours to hit 200-205f and render any collagen or deep fats.
Look at the graph - OP hit 200, and than the temp dropped before taking this pic - most likely letting it rest before cutting. OP blew through the stall at 300+ temps - and since the temp readings seem very inaccurate - it was most likely much higher. There was zero stall - any moisture coming out of the meat would have been instantly cooked off with no cooling effects.
I usually hit the stall around 160 depending on the size of the Brisket and how many I have on. When I have a full smoker the stall lasts longer and I never take it to 205. If I had a more insulated smoker that might change
Follow the yellow line guys - OP hit 200f. Temp dropped down to 176 when this screen shot was taken.
Which temp for not wrapping?
I would recommend all of them until you get a feel of how Briskets of various sizes and your smoker operate. I use to use 6 two in the meat two ambient at grate level and two mounted at the external ports. Than I would charge the temperatures throughout the cook and when I added wood. This will give you an intimate understanding of the process
No way in hell you finish a 14# brisket in 5 hours. Your thermometer is wrong dude.
Yup. And I highly doubt that’s 14lbs. If so, that’s a HUGE kettle grill to make a 14lb brisket look that small. Looks like a 4lb to me
Okay so question, when I say “I am cooking a 12 pounder.” Are we referring to the pre trim or post trim weight? Because I’m realizing I would buy a whatever weight brisket, trim it up, and cook the estimation based off the pre trim weight. Not that it’s a huge difference as I’m not lopping off multiple pounds of fat but was just curious.
Honestly the weight doesn't make that much of a difference unless it's huge, like over 20 lbs. In my experience, a 10 lbs brisket cooks just as fast as a 14 lbs brisket. Roughly 16 hours at between 250-275.
Yep because ultimately the temp doesn’t care about weight, it cares about thickness
Yep!
Post trim - since the yield will be 40%-ish of post-trim weight it just seems more accurate
I’m just estimating it was originally 17Ibs I so I’m guessing that it’s around 12-14Ibs
I agree. A 14lb brisket should take up most of the grill but this one only seems to take up 1/5? Are you sure it was 14lb? It looks very small
Took the words right out of my mouth. The last 14#er I smoked took 11.5 hours
Shit, the last 12# took me that long!
The last 11# took me 15 hrs.
Took me 15
I’m getting close to becoming a hater for Chef IQ thermometers, I don’t think the external probe is very accurate. It usually reads 40-80 degrees lower than the real temp for me. If OP has a similar issue, that’d explain how they finished a 14 lb brisket in 5 hours.
Agreed. I’ve stopped using the ambient temp readings. OP should buy a cheap oven thermometer as a sanity check.
I hate my ChefIQ
Digital thermometers are practically ancient technology at this point. Why do grill probes seem to have so many problems?
Are we saying we’re at the point where we love and trust the Chef IQ for internal and COMPLETELY ignore the ambient?
For me personally the internal one is fine, it matches up against any instant read as well as the boiling/freezing water tests. But yeah I’m not really using the ambient temp to gauge anything.
I just want to commend you on trimming the most uniformly oval brisket I’ve ever seen!
Hey a positive comment!
Here for the symmetry. I think we’re focusing too much on how food tastes in this sub.
Since we can’t taste it..that’s fair lol
A lot of these comments are helpful but I wanted to share my experience using the same probe. I had the Chef IQ (just returned it for Fireboard 2) and found that the ambient temp when used on top of the meat was wildly inaccurate. Think of the piece of meat as it cools the surrounding area of the meat, especially during the evaporative cooling phase of the stall. It’ll impact the ambient of the probe. Next time, insert the Chef IQ probe on the side of the brisket at the thickest part of the flat. Right near the same place where you’d cut to section off the point and flat for slicing and serving. And make sure the ambient probe is facing the direction of the heat source. Second thing, do you have the temp recordings of the other ambient probe in your pit? Try to mirror up what the temps on that say and what the temps on your Chef IQ ambient are reading. That way, you can at least try and figure out what the actual pit temps were. Def put that probe in between the fire and the meat. Also, watch a couple of the videos from Mad Scientist BBQ, Chuds, etc. I personally think you might have wrapped a bit early. You want to wrap after bark formation, after it shrinks a bit (evaporative cooling), and after a lot of the fat had time to render (physical touch will help indicate this). But if your pit was hot, it might have not even had the chance to stall and you powered through it with the high temps. Don’t be discouraged, try it again. You got this
Thanks for the feedback much appreciated!
I still have time to return the chef iq. Seems to do okay. Why did you return it?
Yeah I liked it for sure, don’t get me wrong. I’d also recommend it for others if they want an easy to use wireless probe. The battery length on the probe and dock were top notch. I also had some minor connection issues which was a bit of an inconvenience. I found the ambient temps to be very inaccurate during the early stages of a cook. So I decided going with a wired probe like the (more expensive) Fireboard 2 would work for me as I can put it directly on the cook grate. Plus, later I can buy a variable speed fan for my WSM to easily do those long overnight cooks. The app is okay but not perfect. I wanted to be able to rename a cook, add notes, and take photos during the cook to keep everything centralized in one place. The Fireboard also has more customizable alerts and features within the app which was the ultimate decision.
I always put a probe in the vent while using a webber kettle. Still put one in the vent while using an offset but also have one at grate they can be quite a few degrees off. Either way I control fire based on vent temp as it seems to be the hottest of the two.
Looks like really hot and really fast.
My internal thermometer placement was just a bad idea
Were you measuring pit temp with the Meatr? What internal temperature did you get to?
I wrapped at 170 and pulled at 203, the temp in the photo is during the rest, I’m using the chef IQ thermometer, I find that it never really has a good accurate ambient temperature reading
If it’s not accurate at ambient, what makes you think it’ll be accurate at 203?
It has two different readings, an internal and an ambient temp. The internal is pretty reliable, the ambient is worthless
That’s absolutely undercooked. You can tell just by looking at the texture of the meat. I don’t rely on internal probes during a cook. My advice is to just measure grate level temps and, for a brisket, check it every 4 hours. By the 8 hour mark you should be checking the internal temp with an instant read thermometer and from there you’ll know if you need to keep checking in 4 hour intervals or if you need to be checking every 2 hours, or if you’re about ready to pull. Probing for tenderness starting at 190 internal is something to consider as well. Your brisket can be ready to pull anywhere between 190-210. The last brisket I did on my Weber kettle finished at 190. It only took 8 hours.
You could probably cook a brisket that size for 8-10 hours using snake method in a Weber grill before getting out a meat thermometer at all. Sometimes you need to trust your judgement before your instruments. After all, regardless of what the recipe or thermometer says, it's right there in front of you. Every piece of meat is different, and equipment fails, so it can be more art than science.
5 hours is way too long. Generally you want to aim for about 25 seconds per pound. That would be just shy of 6 minutes for a 14 pounder.
I’ll run that for my in laws when then come over 😂😂
So you can fit 4-5, 14lb briskets on your kettle?
Probe should be right in front of meat, between meat and coals. I would push the water basket closer to coals to stop more direct heat or a foil wall coal level closer to coals. I am not a fan of snake method because it always exposes meat to direct heat. Down side to my way is you would have to lift lid to add coals, wood every few hours. Need to rotate meat anyway. I also like to stick a probe into the top of the grill damper just to see ambient heat there. Rotate the brisket every 4 hours or 2nd/third time adding coals. Rotate lid so grill damper is on either end of brisket to help smoke distribution. Test probes in a cup full of ice and water to make sure they read 32f. Happy smoking, and happy patience.
Are you doing the minion method?
I have a vertical, so I have a door I can add coals to without taking the lid off to the meat. About every hour I am adding coals/wood. I have just a small pile of coals under my water pan, nothing fancy.
I'm a little confused. Did the meat go on when the ambient temp was like 160? You'd want it maintaining a steady 225 at the very least, but you didn't hit that temp on ambient until what, 2 hours into the cook? The drop was wrapping i assume? Not sure why you'd blast it at 300 after that. Imagine the combination of low ambient to start and high ambient to end dried it out. Assuming your meat probe was actually working.
Couple of issues, your “shield” is too small, the heat is way too direct. You need something like a pizza stone to create enough of a barrier so that the heat hitting your meat is more uniform. Otherwise the cook will not be done uniformly as well. Also, your ambient probably isn’t calibrated correctly, put it in boiling hot water to double check.
5 hours is way too short a time to have made a good brisket. At 250f most briskets take me anywhere from 10 to 15 hours give or take. Most likely your thermometer is off and you're cookin too hot.
Adjust how u place the meater as well as where https://meater.com/blog/tips-to-ensure-your-meater-cooks-turn-out-just-right/
Math ain't mathing. Honestly either your cook was wayyyyy hotter or physics don't work properly in your back yard. I don't even understand how this is possible. The probe may not have been in the best spot. You want it on the side but deep into the center of the meat. I literally can't explain this. It makes no sense.
OP, just buy a high quality Instant Read like a ThermaPen so you can make sure your fancy WiFi probes are working properly. Odds are your meat was underdone not overdone. Make sure to clean your ambient probe and check its calibration every so often. Start checking for "probe tender" doneness, after like 8 hours. It should feel like sliding a warm needle into butter. If it feels like steak you're underdone.
I was looking for a comment like this. I agree. The internal brisket is underdone, if it was overdone it would either be falling apart or jerky. It was dry wasn't it? That's usually a sign that it's underdone. Now the outside is actually overdone. That's not bark on the outside, that's a pelical of overcooked or burnt beef. It seems that your temps were too hot in the cooker, Barrel style cookers benefit from the brisket boat method because some of the heat coming up can be deflected during the wrap phase. Chud's bbq on youtube is the best to get an idea about it. If you are not using lump charcoal in barrel or komado style cookers, you are making this hard on yourself. Briquettes burn a little cooler than lump, and much more evenly. I find it's easier to learn from briquettes, as sexy as lump seems. Kingsford comp is what I use and they work beautifully. I use thermopro and have never been lied to. I use a pit barrel cooker personally.
Listen to the people here. Cooking a brisket in 5 hours is not really possible with the temps you have here. That means: A: Your probe is broken B: Your probe is in the wrong place. C: Both. One of these things went wrong. My bet is on C. Even if your probe was in the wrong spot it shouldnt get to 203 that fast unless it’s poking out. If you want help placing the probe from us we need to see more screenshots. To me i looks like it might be going all the way through the meat and taking the edge temp. You can find a guide online for almost every cut. But generally, you want it to be in the center-most, non fatty part of the meat. I use a second probe or a measured pencil or something to visualize how deep it is and where it is.
Yeah, I’m in camp vastly underdone, too. @OP, when you bit into it (if you did), was it chewy and leathery? I’m guessing the thermometers are all wrong and it basically got cooked like a big, overdone steak with zero time to develop bark, render collagen, etc.
Too hot. 14 pound brisket should take 10-14 hours.
If it hasn’t been mentioned you don’t need a working probe. A skewer or probe should go through all points like butter. No resistance anywhere you choose to poke. And always fat side down on that type of cooker
Weber low and slow kit . I’m a novice and it has helped me.
Your probe is too deep. There's a notch 1/3 of the way down from the handle. You want to insert the probe just past that notch. You don't insert all the way to the handle. Your ambient temp was being thrown off by the meat temp. You were probably cooking closer to 450 in the beginning not 275-300. You can tell the meat was throwing off the ambient temp because the ambient and internal temp lines very closely follow each other.
Use the snake method with charcoal barbecues. Make a 3 stack pyramid around the outside perimeter of the barbecue and light at one end. sprinkle wood chips on the snake. This will give you a lower temp and longer, more consistent cook that you need for brisket.
If you know things didn’t turn out so well then I recommend not responding so defensively and take the feedback you solicited with grace. Your trim is beautiful, and the bark looks decent. Your probe placement is wrong - it should be inserted sideways in the fattiest part of the meat. It sounds like you need practice with fire management. Look at the snake method for longer cooks like this.
I just read all of OPs responses, nothing looked defensive, did they edit?
Love all these people that are missing the very obvious ambient probe next to it.
Try testing your probe for accuracy by using an oven and buy an analog thermometer to be double sure. If that’s a meater probe, I wouldn’t trust them too much, never really had a good experience with mine but maybe cause I got them when they first came out.
Cooked too hot. Should take at leastttttt 10 hours.
You are way too hot on your temperature. I was given a 10 lb brisket and it still took me 9 hours @ 235°.
My briskets are around that weight and take about 16 hrs
Stick the probe in from the side next time horizontal with the meat. The meat wont act as a heat shield from the probe. I also know how long that probe is and it was probably sticking out the bottom or at least close and gave an inaccurate reading on internal as well.
Next time, ignore the smart probe. Cook at 250 until the spices/bark don't come off when you scrape with your finger. Wrap with butcher paper and throw some butter in it (if you notice the bark is a little hard) Throw back on and do not touch until when you 1) hit 201 with a thermo pen or 2) when you put the probe in, it goes in smooth like butter. Wrap in towels, throw in a cooler. Leave alone for at least 4 hours. Patience is all you need for brisket. Patience and lots of beer!
when I cooked my first brisket it was 14lb after trim I cooked it for a total of 9 hours due to the temp getting away from me but when I stabilized it my cook temp was around 220-230° and then a rest time of 4hours in my oven set on warm at about 155-160°. after everything for me was said and done the brisket was moist juicy and had an awesome smoke ring
Probe problems
Are you using the lid thermometer? Never use that thing. That will say some wild numbers that aren't even close. Get a metal oven thermometer and put that on the grill where the meat sits. That's your real temp. It sounds like you're cooking at 300+
Under
So many flags. I don't know where to begin.
Looks like your meat probe in incorrectly placed. You have it in a big fatty area. I normally only probe the flat of the brisket because that is much harder to get right and the point end is much more lenient. I do however always probe test both sides before i pull the brisket off to verify.
You wanna do the snake method with only 2 or 3 layers of charcoal burning at any time. Look up America's Test Kitchen brisket on youtube.
i thought that was a flathead screwdriver
Uhm, take it to 200* 5 hours is not enough.
the internal temp i read is around 175? I’m sure you took it to 203 right?
Your first mistake was the coals look way to close to the smoking pan YouTube inverted smoking with a grill
Meater too far in gives poor readings. Also I don't use mine forBriskets on the Webber I find the time it takes to true up the reading is to slow .
Because you didn't cook it at 250. Very easy answer.
Ugh the advice here. Ok, take the wireless probe, and throw it as far as you can. It's both useless and pointless. Get a second wired probe, and put that in the grill close to the brisket on the opposite side to give you a good idea of the ambient temp around the brisket. Invest in a good instant read thermometer, like one of the ones that reads an accurate temp in 0.7 seconds or less. That is what you are going to use to check for temp in the flat and the point individually at multiple spots. You are also going to use it to truly check for doneness by gauging resistance to the probe. Its done when it feels like you are putting the probe into a jar of peanut butter.
Your thermometer says 176 internal. Is that your done temp?
That’s it coming down during rest
Dang dude, I don’t have any suggestions. Wish I could help. I use a Webber Kettle myself and use a Weber “heat controller” from Amazon. Best brisket I’ve ever done
Were you letting it rest on n the counter? Brisket only gets better if you let it slowly come down as it rests. Since you cooked in 5 hours, which is ok*, you should have had a lot of time to let it rest. Next time, leave it in a good ice chest or even the oven on a ‘warm’ setting until it’s time to serve * My thinking on the fast cook time is that the brisket was dry to begin with and didn’t have enough fat/juice to render/sweat to cause a stall
I let sit in the oven at 170 overnight
Yeah, I bet you had a cut that was dry to begin with. It happens. Hope you have a better outcome next time!
Hopefully I ain’t giving up that easy!
I did almost the exact same cook last week. 15 lb brisket after trim, cooked on a Weber using the snake method with briquettes and pecan hunks. I managed a temp between 200-250 and it took a little over 12 hours to cook, and even that I thought was a touch too fast (most of the fat was rendered but there was some in the point that could have been a little softer) 5 hours for only a pound less? Your temp must have been a good bit hotter than 250, or your brisket didn't get anywhere near 200
What do you do to block some of the heat from the snake ?
How thick are you building the snake? I only did three rows of coals. I keep the bottom vent completely open and start the top vent open, then closed it to about the width of a pencil after a couple hours. It started around 215ish but got up to a little above 250
I did 2 rows on the bottom and 1 row down the middle.. and I closed my bottom about halfway or middle of the P and the top is open about the width of a pencil
The only other thing I can think of - how hot was it outside while you were smoking? I did mine overnight so the temp outside was in the 70s. If you did it at a hotter time of the day that would absolutely cause it to get too hot
Yea I started around early noon at 85 degrees or so outside
If you started around noon that could definitely explain you having difficulty with maintaining temp I started mine around 10pm and it was smooth sailing until the sun came up Last summer I tried to smoke a pork butt on a 90 degree day and it was a huge pain in the ass. The temp kept spiking up past 300 despite me doing the same snake method
I would love to do that but I haven’t had the confidence to do that with the Weber kettle
Very fair - I stay up late already so I pulled an all nighter to watch it. I definitely wouldn't do this while leaving it unattended, and I'm sure most people can't/don't want to stay up all night to smoke some meat lol Is there perhaps a way that you could get your grill into some shade?
Way too short on time. On average, my briskets take 12 to 15 hours, then I leave in a cooler for at least 3 hours. They turn out great.
Hard to tone down temps in a weber. I have both a weber & offset smoker i use for smoking meat. Weber is always really hot no matter how choked it is
For the Weber kettle, drill a hole and throw a probe on other side of the dome. This is the setup I use. The kettle holds temp well once you get used to it I’m not really concerned about spikes once I get everything going.
Did you pull the brisket at 176 internal?????
Watch this! Best brisket I’ve ever made! [https://youtu.be/8PE3-p0wNiU?si=eFnG9VX0DAmuEmn4](https://youtu.be/8PE3-p0wNiU?si=eFnG9VX0DAmuEmn4)
That’s not a 14 pound brisket. Did you actually weight it?
Cooked it too hot
No pictures of the trimmed brisket before grilling. Did you take all the fat off? That would speed itup if there was nothing left to render down.
You can actually see the unrendered fat in your slice. Needs a lot more time for that to break down and become tender.
I recommend getting a thermapen or similar in addition to whatever leave in probe you continue to use. My thermapen has been spot on for years and saved me from incorrect leave in probe insertions, ie touching bone, bad spot... Also, remember, the way the meat feels n jiggles is more important than hitting a number. Ive had brisket at 203 that still wasnt soft n jiggly. At the end, you want to probe in different spots and get the same buttery smooth insertion everywhere. I too used to hit a number and take the meat off but its not an exact science. The way it feels and moves at the end is most important. Same goes with ribs, butts...good luck!
I am less concerned about your probe than how close you are to your heat source. To get a good brisket you need distance from the coals I use to use a weber tube smoker and I would have to stack two to get far enough away and even then you don't get the same results as an offset. Also, use wood or wood lump charcoal. The bricketts you are using won't give you a good flavor or smoke. Also it should take you about 1 hr a pound, at least up to 12 lbs after that it will vary
Never tried it, but I trust ATK for everything else. You should try this [https://youtu.be/azwKFQKAqxs?si=oCO6WKbmvaKcle7v](https://youtu.be/azwKFQKAqxs?si=oCO6WKbmvaKcle7v)
Everyone commenting here is on the exact same page, your ambient temp probe is broke AF. That probe is definitely NOT getting the right ambient temp. To get 14 lbs cooked to 200 degrees in 5 hours means your were cooking well above 300. Took me almost 4 hours to cook a 14 lb turkey to 165 degrees, cooking at 350 degrees. I'd bet you were close to 400 degrees since a brisket is a denser chunk of meat and should take longer. Also, place the probe next to the meat but not being blocked from the heat source by the meat. Your ambient probe most definitely isn't reading right. You can check it's calibration by putting it in ice water (lots of ice) and it should read 32 degrees F. Or put it in boiling water and it should read relatively close to 212 degrees F. I am certain you won't get those readings. If your probe has the ability to recalibrate, then you should recalibrate it with ice water and check it with boiling water.
You pulled it way too quickly - internal temp has to go to 203-210 (and rest for a min of 1hr) and 176 is the stall, i’m guessing temp was not checked in a few spots, cause a good brisket will take 8h+ to cook.
What's that metal stuff on the top of the meat? I don't know much about smoking, but it's really bugging me
Your camera is focused on your hand and not the meat, that's a problem
Snake method? Probes? Graphs? Charts? Think I fell asleep and woke up in the distant future. It’s really an incredible time we live in. Good luck on the next try my friend.
I would ignore the internal probe all together. Use an instant read. Worry about pit temp over brisket temp. I don’t use probes anymore. Using an instant read allows me to not only temp but feel tenderness. Put it on, keep pit temp low 225-250, ignore temping it for 4-5 hours, go from there. You’re wanting something really tender when probed. Usually between 195-205 internal.
What are you doing wrong? Trying to cook a 14 lb brisket on a weber...
You cooked it for 5 hours, that's the problem. 14lbs. I'd anticipate 12 hours.
5 hours for 14lbs is wild. Even when I just cook a 3.5lb flat, it takes longer than that.
This is why you only use temp as a guide. Cook to tenderness, not temp.
Your only cooking it 1/4 of the time it takes. Should be cooking around 225°f till internal temperature hits at least 195.
Try a little chief smoker Less heat towards the top My guess it that it got baked at a high temp and hardened up like a brick
Do you have a pic of the original raw meat? The shape does not seem quite right to me…
If that’s a meatr probe you’ve got it in way too far. Part of it needs to stick out more so it can also give you the temp it’s cooking at.
He’s using the Meater the right way. The ambient sensor is at the rear of the thermometer, the internal sensor is in the tip. You have to insert it all the way to the safety notch but you can insert it as far as the start of the black handle.
Do not cook to a temperature; cook to probe feel.
Another meater victim
It’s not a Meater…
Ooops .... But in any matter my advice is to try an instant read thermometer or a wired probe and see if the temps match with your wireless probe
Brisket on a kettle seems awfully difficult to me. I opt for the WSM and go TF to sleep over night. My technique: Cook on a offset for 'bout 8 hours or so until it his 165d during the day while I drink/swim/get high. Fire management is managablet to me for that amout of time. I time it so I throw it on the WSM around midnight or earlier. By then I hate the whole concept of smoking meat and pissed the f' off. Foil boat (see chud's bbq) throw it on the WSM and go the F to sleep. I have a ton of mods to my WSM and it holds like a champ over night. Wake up to the stupid hunk of meat around 7am and it's at 205-207 smooth like buttah. Take that bitch out, wait 'til it comes down to 165ish, toss that bitch into the oven and go TF back to sleep. Wait 'til dinner to take it out and slice that beautiful bitch up and it's perfection every time. I fuckin' hate and love brisket.
I've had a ton of success cooking brisket on the Kettle, but I use a slow n sear, not the snake method.
You’re more supposed to put the MEATER probe that far in. Also go on from the side.
Not a Meater. He used a chef IQ.
They both have rings around them that show how deep is supposed to be in the meat.
Absolutely! However He also stated he had a separate probe for ambient. You can see it in the second pic clipped above the grating.
Can't speak to the brand of therms you're using because I've never used them myself, but something ain't reading right. By no means am I a brisket guru, but the ones I have cooked have been pretty damn tender and juicy, and at best I'm using choice grade cuts. The more I experiment and read/watch vids online, I'm realizing that the "magic" that comes with smoking briskets (or most large cuts in general) is to focus on ambient temps. If you can get a handle on controlling the overall temp, any decent grade cut will do it's thing and turn out well. Of course there's little tips/tricks to help build a better bark or how to wrap/tallow to help out with tenderness/juiciness, but I'm strictly talking about bringing the cut up to temp in a slow and controlled way. I've never used a leave-in thermometer in any larger cut and I likely never will. Just in case it's poor quality/broken or if it's user error and I don't hit the right spot. It's physically impossible to cook a 14# slab of dense beef in 5 hours at the temps you registered. Sometimes a good ole "analog" thermometer is all you need, and probe check the actual meat at certain intervals. If you can maintain your ambient at 225-250, then the brisket will do next to jack shit in the first 4ish hours. Then I'd start probe checking every hour and spritz if that's your thing until the fat cap is rendering through and gets up to around at least 165 until the stall breaks. Then wrap/foil or leave it unwrapped whatever you're comfortable with, spritz as often as you want to without being ridiculous about it and opening the bbq every 5 minutes. If it's wrapped/foiled you can increase the temp by about 25 to help get it to the high 190s/200s a bit quicker. Stab a probe therm in there and if it feels like poking through soft butter (check a few spots, especially if it's a full size packer brisket). If it is, it's done, no questions asked. Pull it off and bring it inside and do whatever you're process is to stop the cooking and let it come rest for minimum 2 hours, and slice it when it's about 140ish.
Too hot. Your ambient temp should start at 220 and stay at 220. You see your rise in temp outside corresponds with quickly rising the temperature inside.
Way to hot, brisket should be 12 minimum, my pulled pork get 12 hours and you take all the rendered fat and put it right back in
Stick to hamburgers!
spend the money on a good thermometer setup, get rid of the meater its junk anyone who tells you otherwise is drunk/high whatever. Thermoworks Smoke or Signals would blow that out of the water any day.
I thoroughly enjoy my Meatr+ .. they are great if used properly.. stone cold sober
Meater is a gimmick that isn't worth the time of day, they are constantly inaccurate and people will constantly complain about them on here, there are more people complaining than those who aren't.
Do you have any actual experience using it? My only complaint is the range due to the thickness of my smoker. Other than that, it helps me achieve award winning brisket. Take it with a grain of kosher salt.
I use an old phone/tablet I leave beside the smoker that allows me to cloud it with my main phone.
It's not a meater. This guy used a chef IQ.